Throughout this course, students will critically investigate the lived experiences of maritime agents, from prehistory to Late Antiquity, that made and unmade the ancient Mediterranean world. While the formative role maritime connectivity has played in the long-term history of the Mediterranean has been brought out by many prominent scholars, the people behind this phenomenon have received less attention. Through networks of maritime mobility, sailors, raiders, and traders knit the Mediterranean world into a connected whole; yet at other times this same mobility could be turned toward more destructive ends, and more than once brought the ancient world to the brink of collapse. Who were these people? How did they view themselves, how were they perceived by others? What was their daily life like, whether on board a ship or at work at a port? What role did the environment play in people’s experience of the seascape? How did technological changes in shipbuilding and transport containers affect patterns of maritime mobility and interaction? How did state entities of the ancient world respond to the actions of these often-unruly subjects? Can we perceive change in the role of maritime agents over time? To explore these questions, the course will proceed thematically. The first half of the course will deal with the practicalities of maritime life: the environment, ships, maritime infrastructure, ports, transport containers, weights and measures; the second half will explore processes of trade, migration, colonization, cultural exchange, and piracy that were fundamentally shaped by the realities of life in and around the sea.